Congressman William Owens, 23rd Congressional District, joined officials with Development Authority of the North Country and Lewis County government to announce the start of construction on the southern build of the Authority's open access telecommunications network. The project will run fiber optics from Lowville to SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome, and north to Calcium. The 145 miles of new telecommunications infrastructure will complete the Authority's southern loop, providing greater security, connectivity and redundancy to the open access network. As quoted in the Watertown Daily Times, April 20, 2011, Congressman Owens noted, "This type of Project is extremely important." The $5.5 million project received funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2010.
The southern build is one of three major construction projects funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to extend the telecommunications network. The Authority received $21 million in total through ARRA to construct approximately 550 new miles of broadband fiber network.
Congressman William Owens, center, James Wright, |
| Robert Durantini, Development Authority of the North Country with Congressman Owens |
